Civil War Pensions
According to Theda Skopcol, author of “America’s First Social Security System: The Expansion of Benefits for Civil War Veterans,” the social welfare system for veterans instituted by the U.S. at this time was unprecedented, even on a global scale. She compares Civil War soldiers’ benefits to those of French soldiers following the French Revolution and concludes that the American system was, in the end, even grander in comparison. Between 1880 and 1910, the federal government devoted over a quarter of its expenditures to pensions.
If we are to understand Horace, we must place him inside his cultural and social context, and the government assistance provided for veterans in the aftermath of the war was an important part of the social fabric of late-19th-century America.
The pension system evolved over the decades. It began, of course, with real need. To give you an idea of the scale involved, about 37% of northern men between the ages of 15 and 44 served in the Union army and navy. Thousands of men would need assistance after the war, and so would the families of the dead. The outpouring of sympathy for veterans was strong.
The system was established by law in 1862, and at its initiation, it discriminated by rank. Officers received far more generous pensions than enlisted men. As an example, a lieutenant colonel totally disabled for labor received $30 per month, while a disabled private received only $8.
This comparison would imply that if Horace received $2 per month for a relatively minor gunshot wound, a lieutenant colonel with the same injury would have received $7.50. This gives us an idea of the glory and importance afforded to officers over ordinary men like Horace.
Under the 1862 law, a soldier could only receive pension for injuries or diseases that could be directly traced to his military services. That did not change until 1890, at which time all veterans who had served for 90 days or more were eligible for pension, and under a much broader umbrella of medical conditions--that is, far more conditions were considered to be qualified for a pension.
The constraints of the 1862 law made a difference in Horace’s life. Horace was not an amputee and he was physically capable of working after the war, which made him better off than thousands of other Civil War survivors. However, his contraction of typhoid during the war caused him to suffer attacks of colic for the rest of his life. The primary source documents from Blenheim House tell us that his doctor wrote him prescriptions for colic over the last few years of his life. One of those attacks eventually killed him.
Under the medical knowledge of the time, the illness could not be directly linked to his service. If he had applied for pension under the 1890 law, however, he may likely have been granted a higher pension than $2 per month, which would have made a significant financial difference in his life. By the time the law changed, Horace was dead.